Gooden may be out for season

Amid rising concern about the damage in his right shoulder, Dwight Gooden returned to New York yesterday and underwent extensive testing to determine his future.

All signs indicated that he would probably be finished for the season.

Gooden, who left a start Aug. 22 after complaining of stiffness in his pitching shoulder, told the organization's medical staff Friday that he was experiencing more than normal discomfort 24 hours after a workout in Atlanta.

"He's not feeling good about his shoulder," manager Bud Harrelson said. "The whole atmosphere is that it's better to be more safe than sorry."

Gooden, reached at his home on Long Island, said he'd had a Magnetic Resonance Imaging exam yesterday afternoon, but that results were not immediately available.

"I've been told not to say anything until Monday," Gooden said.

* MARINERS: Government and business leaders will meet this week with owner Jeff Smulyan to discuss ways to keep major-league baseball alive in Seattle.

King County, Seattle and city corporate leaders met privately Friday and discussed a short-term proposal to help the money-losing franchise, King County executive Tim Hill said.

Hill declined to discuss specifics, but said the group is considering the purchase of up to 250,000 Mariners tickets for the rest of this season.

At a cost of $400,000 to $800,000, the ticket buyout would temporarily block Smulyan from triggering an escape clause in his Kingdome lease and moving the team to another city.